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How to know which documents to keep?

When it comes to the annual, half-yearly or monthly office clean-out, how do you determine what documents you need to keep in the office, and which ones you need to send off to storage?

If you have not done so already, you will first need to know which documents you are legally required to retain. It is best to find out what your state requires you to keep and for how long, as that information can differ from state to state.

Whilst the various Acts prescribe the types of documents that must be retained and the period of retention, they are generally technology-neutral regarding the method of retention. For example, original hard copy documents need not be retained if they are kept electronically in a form that is readily available. The electronic copy must also be secure and convertible into a hard copy.

One of the best ways to work out what documents need to be easily accessible, is by working out how often you need to use them. While every document in its essence is quite important, there are some that you or your business may need to access regularly, and therefore having to dig through emails, filing cabinets or storage boxes can be quite counter-productive.

Yet there is a way in which to make a situation like this far easier than it is, and that is through Compu-Stor’s ‘Scan OnDemand’ service. This service is ideal for a business that may have thousands of documents but do not need to have every one of them on hand.

On Demand Scanning gives a business the ability to transform critical documents to a digital format that can be accessed with a simple request. Also, combined with one of our various online storage solutions, access to such documents has never been simpler. One such solution is our Complete Information Management System (CIMS).

CIMS is a portal that links to a centralised database of scanned documents that Customers can access and search for the files they need. Having access to a system like this has many benefits for a business, such as not requiring an expensive internal IT system or management team, and various security features (protected access, encrypted content and audit trails) that make sure your information is readily available and protected.

If your business needs a reliable, innovative and secure document storage and retrieval solution, then Compu-Stor’s Scan OnDemand and CIMS is the ideal answer.